


There's no Way to Tell You

by Anotherrosebyanothername



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben is adorable, F/M, Fluff, beadick, kind of, saying "I love you"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-29 10:26:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10852062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anotherrosebyanothername/pseuds/Anotherrosebyanothername
Summary: Ben is feeling nervous when he posts his SONG video, because Beatrice never acknowledges that he said, "I love you."





	1. Benedick

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic on AO3, first NMTD fic, and first fic in over a year. I know this fandom is a little small now, but I hope you all enjoy it!

Ben was hurt. He'd posted his video professing his love to Beatrice in song, and she hadn't said anything about it. He knew she was watching his videos now, because she'd mentioned both John's confession, and NYEEH. He had dragged Balth into this, and she hadn't even appreciated the effort that went into that song! Not to mention, she hadn't said "I love you" back.  
And he knew he was being ridiculous. Of course Bea didn't have to say it. He shouldn't have even said it. It was really early in their relationship. It was fine.  
But it wasn't. It was eating away at him. And the worst of it was that Bea had been acting like everything was normal, that nothing even happened.  
Okay. Maybe she hadn’t seen it. It was the end of the year after all, she was really busy. Busy spending time with actual him, even, which is way better than video him.

He logic-ed his way around it in his head for about a week. At that point, he was sure that Beatrice had seen the video, and that there must be a reason she hadn’t said anything. Maybe she’s messing with him. That’s something that Beatrice would do. But they had long conversations about how important their relationship was, and how they weren’t messing it up again. Would she really mess with him about saying love for the first time?  
Maybe it’s because he told her in a video. Of course! How could he be so stupid? Girls want a love profession in person! Following that revelation, Ben spent another week planning how to tell her. He thought about taking her on a really nice, romantic date to tell her. No, Bea would hate that. 

And then it happened. The picnic. Those “love gods” directly showed Bea the video. There was no escaping it now. As she was watching it, he waited with bated breath. And when she got to the point where the Benedick on the phone was singing, “Beatrice, you’re vivacious, I can’t take this I love you,” his heart sped up. How was Bea going to react? But then Hero passed Ben the phone that had Beatrice and Balth on the screen, singing what sounded like a love song. About him. And inside his brain was mush, and he thought he might faint, and all he wanted to do was kiss Beatrice and tell her he loved her. But he couldn’t let the others see that. So he teased her, and they poked fun of each other. But when Beatrice kept resisting he couldn’t hold all of it in. “Beatrice, shut up.”

They still hadn’t said it face to face though. He wasn’t sure how to do it, but it turns out, he didn’t need to worry.  
Much later in the day, when the two of them had snuck off into some trees to be alone, Bea said it for him.  
“I love you, you know. I know you saw the video earlier, but I felt like I still needed to tell you. I’m really sorry I didn’t say anything after you posted your video. I was just wanted to give you something in return. Because I love it. Just like I love you.”  
“I love your song too. And I really, really, love you. Like, a lot.”  
“I know, you dork.”


	2. Beatrice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bea's side of the story.

Bea was frozen, staring at her computer screen. The YouTube timer was counting down to play the next video. She didn’t care, her eyes were frozen on Benedick’s face. Benedick’s stupid, stupid, face. A face that had just sang a song. For her. A song that said, “I love you.”

Not just subtext of “I love you,” he said the words. “Beatrice, you’re vivacious, I can’t take this, I love you.” Just like that. Like it was easy. And before everything happened she might have thought that being vivacious was supposed to be an insult, but now she knew it wasn’t, it was a compliment. And it was one of the best compliments she had ever heard. But that wasn’t the important part. The important part was the “I love you” part. 

He’d just said it, like it was easy. Like it was easy to tell your first girlfriend “I love you” just after they started dating. And now she had to tell him. Because -- God, she loved him. She loved him so much. And watching his stupid face sing that stupid song on the stupid computer screen just made her realize how much she loved him. She had four years of it bottled up inside of her, and now it had to be released. 

But how? What was she supposed to do, just walk up to him at school tomorrow morning and say, “Oh yeah, I saw your video, I love you too”? How lame would that be? And embarrassing! At school? No way. It obviously had to be when they were alone. And shouldn’t she do something cool too? I mean, he’d written her a song for heaven’s sake! But now she was over-analyzing it, and nothing good could come from over-analyzing something like saying the “L” word. She took deep breathes, and decided to go make some tea, and she would figure this out when her mind wasn’t going a hundred miles a minute.

When she got back to her room with the mug of tea to calm her because, well, it reminded her of him, she sat down to think about this reasonably. Obviously, she loved him. But saying that, saying that was hard. Some part deep inside of her said, “what if it’s like last time?” She didn’t want to open herself up to vulnerability again, just to have him crush her.

That’s ridiculous, she told herself. Ben isn’t going to do that. He would never do that to her again. After all, he was the one who said it first. So it was decided: she would tell him.

And then the week passed without her telling him. She felt awful. He was probably worried sick. But she never got a good time. She didn’t want to tell him some place like school, where there were people all over the place. This was supposed to be their moment; she didn’t want to share it with other people. So she waited. Another week passed.

The next week, she devised a plan. She would write him a song too. Balthazar was happy to help, and they set up a time to do it. He helped her come up with music and lyrics, always keeping calm, an exact opposite of her frustration. She had to make it perfect. Balth reminded her that no matter what she did, Ben would love it. And he was right, but his song for her was so great, she had to do something the same. Finally, they finished it. But she couldn’t quite get up the guts to post it yet. She would be letting the entire internet know how she felt, when they hadn’t even officially told their friends yet that they were dating. Not that they couldn’t tell, they kept shooting them knowing looks, but still.

Then the picnic happened. And Hero handed Ben her phone and she wanted to retreat and hide. Ideally by burying her head into his chest. But she wasn’t about to do that. And he watched the video, and teased her. And now he knew. But she still had to say it. So when they snuck off into the trees it was the perfect time. 

But all the words she had prepared got jumbled up in her mouth, and instead everything came out as word vomit. “I love you, you know. I know you saw the video earlier, but I felt like I still needed to tell you. I’m really sorry I didn’t say anything after you posted your video. I was just wanted to give you something in return. Because I love it. Just like I love you.”

“I love your song too. And I really, really, love you. Like, a lot.” And she felt like she could just float away. He loved her. This boy that she had argued with, this boy that she loved, loved her back. 

“I know, you dork,” and she kissed him into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did end up writing a second half! This part is a little longer too. :) I hope you all like it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's so short, I didn't expect it to be. If you enjoy this fic, please comment. Constructive criticism is welcome! I'm super late to the game because I only just got into NMTD, but I'm still so glad I did. I'm planning on writing a few more fics soon, and maybe adding a second chapter to this one from Bea's point of view.


End file.
